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The cabinet or cabinets should never present a lower load than what is specified from them amp outlet/outlets or you run the risk of serious amp damage. If you have more than one amp you could just use the right configuration of amps to match cabs. Peavey used to have a bass amp that output down to two ohms which I used with a 4x12 cab (2 ohms). Krampera kvb 800 runs down to 2 ohms, also Genz Benz shuttle Max 12.2 has twin amps and outputs at 4 ohms so that's another potential fix?

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First I write shortly about speaker load and amp, then I will offer you a possible, if not a working solution.

Amp can push volts and amperes to a load (speaker). If the load is optimal, the most volts and amperes (multiplied together: watts) from the amp go to the speaker. Now the Ohm's law tells, that current equals volts divided by impedance (I = U / Z). When the impedance gets smaller, the current rises.

Sometimes people think that lowering the impedance brings you more volume. Although the amp may see less impedance it may be not powerful enough to push that load anymore. Think it like that you go to a gym. There are two springs that you need to push. The other is short and thick (lower impedance) and the other is longer but more slender. Because of the thickness of the spring wire the shorter is harder to push. Yes, it would only need shorter distance to be pushed together but it is uncomfortably heavy for the user.

What happens in the amp is that the current starts to rise and it heats up the power section. If the parts can handle heat, they survive, if not, you get lots of melt metal. It not uncommon, that the power section pushes less power to the smaller (and harder) load. So you get less volume.

My slightly unorthodox option to your two cabinet issue starts from opening the cabinets. If the elements are wired in parallel (two 8 ohm elements in parallel = 4 ohms), you might change their connection to series (two 8 ohm elements in series = 16 ohms). Then it would be easy to just use one or two cabinets in the amp.

I suppose that your amp is not tube. Tubes love exact matching. Usually transistors like similar or larger impedance in their outputs.